3rd July, 2020
By Paul Iyoghojie
A 39-year old bureau De change operator, Dean Ovie Orivri, has been arraigned before a Lagos Magistrate’s Court for allegedly obtaining the sum of N130,500,000 from his customer, Mr Olufemi Ikechukwu Ekwuyasi under false pretence.
The Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG in charge of Zone 2 Command, Mr Ahmed Iliasu, ordered his men to arrest the accused following a petition by the complainant and charged him before the Igbosere Chief Magistrate’s Court, Lagos on three counts bordering on obtaining money under false pretence and stealing.
Police Counsel S. Molo informed the Court in charge No H/1Q/2020 that the accused committed the offence on 14 May, 2020 at Ariyo Street, Lekki Phase I, Lagos.
Molo told the court presided over by Magistrate M.O Ope Agbe that Dean Ovie Orivri introduced himself to the complainant as a bureau De change operator and collected the sum of N130,500,000 from him with the agreement to help him exchange the money to dollar equivalent.
He said after the accused collected the money from the complainant, he allegedly converted the money to his personal use and disappeared.
He added that the complainant decided to report the matter to the Police when all his efforts to retrieve the money from the accused proved futile.
Molo said the offences, the accused committed were punishable under sections 411, 314(1)(3) of the Criminal Law of Lagos, 2015.
The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges in the open Court, but Magistrate Ope Agbe declined to grant the accused bail on oral bail application.
Ope Agbe directed the Counsel to the defendant to file a proper bail application before the Court and ordered that the defendant be kept at the Zone 2 Command, Onikan, Lagos in compliance to the COVID 19 protocol and adjourned the case till 29 July, 2020 for possible consideration of the bail application.